New Technology is Revolutionizing Archeology and Changing History's Narrative

Proteomics reveals far more about ancient remains than ever before, and changing what we know about gender roles in the distant past

Hiya!

We often consider history as fact when it’s really more of an ever-changing story — one added to and inspired by archeological discoveries and shaped by our interpretations of them. However, nowadays, technological and scientific advancements are shifting history’s narratives.

Recent progress with DNA analysis provides scientists with more information about ancient individuals and societies. These revelations are already flipping historical portrayals upside down and revealing our biases in the process — especially regarding gender roles. Now, an emerging scientific method called proteomics is helping scientists fill in even more gaps in history.

A Little History

Until a few decades ago, archeologists relied on observable differences between male and female skeletons to identify excavated remains.

The more prominent differences include males tending to have longer legs and arms and larger heads. Meanwhile, females have a wider pelvis and torso than males and are typically smaller overall. However, there are many other, more subtle differences as well.

Still, identifying skeletal remains this way is tricky as the fossils are often degraded, incomplete, or broken. Plus, the older they are, the more fragile they become.

Also, since most of the modern world lives in social systems where men generally hold authority and responsibility to the exclusion of women, aka a Patriarchy, ancient remains were often assumed to be male. This was particularly true when tombs included burial goods like weapons, but we’ll discuss that more later.

First, I want to talk about what illuminated our historical gender bias to begin with.

DNA Analysis

In 1984, DNA analysis entered the scientific realm and proved revolutionary in several fields, from forensics to archeology. In no time, experts were analyzing archeological skeletal remains — both newly discovered and previous finds — and reshaping history’s narrative in the process.

DNA is essentially a blueprint containing all the information about how a living organism will look and function, so the ability to analyze ancient DNA is a pretty big deal. Studying DNA from ancient remains provides scientists with critical insight into many physical characteristics, including a person’s sex and eye color.

More than that, this advancement revealed information for the first time about how groups of people interacted and moved around in the ancient world. DNA analysis also expanded what archeologists can learn from ancient remains, from looking at things people left behind to including geneticists who are interested in the people themselves.

However, information found in ancient DNA also settled more than a couple of long-held debates while revealing some significant biases, especially regarding gender roles. 

For instance, two years ago, I wrote about an ancient, lavish Viking grave that was first discovered in 1878 and later dated to be from around the 8th century. The remains found inside were assumed to belong to a great and highly respected male warrior.

A century later, in the 1970s, scientists began challenging this assumption multiple times over 50 years due to observable skeletal evidence that the remains in the tomb were female — but their doubts were ignored until just a few years ago.

In 2017, DNA analysis of the remains showed XX chromosomes, proving the remains were female. When pushback continued, scientists proved it again in 2019, this time even more thoroughly, which thankfully seems to have finally settled things.

The Viking Warrior is one of many examples showing how DNA analysis can challenge our preconceived notions about gender roles throughout time and, in the process, rewrite history. 

Undoubtedly, the ability to analyze ancient DNA leveled up the field of archeology, but it isn’t without issues. To begin with, DNA molecules degrade over time, and there isn’t usually enough of it to analyze. And even when scientists are lucky enough to locate enough DNA to run an analysis on, the samples are prone to contamination.

Then there’s the bureaucracy of it all. Put simply, DNA analysis isn’t cheap, easy, or quick. So, scientists needed something just as revolutionary but cheaper and faster than traditional DNA analysis — and now they finally have it in the newly emerging field of proteomics.